(I seem to recall this being discussed here, but searching hasn't turned up anything)

I'm putting together an ex-JNB DONE4, first flight will be CX JNB-HKG. I've never actually booked with the online tool. If I do, will I have problems getting the AA RTW desk to make changes? (I know I'll need to make at least date/time changes because the latter flights I want are too far out to be bookable now.)

A couple years ago I used a TA in Seoul to book and issue a DONE3, and ran into a Catch-22 where the AA RTW desk couldn't see all the sectors, and the Seoul agent insisted AA ordered them not to reissue tickets without charging the fare difference. I called the AA RTW desk today and asked, and the agent there thought that the online tool made all sectors visible to AA, but of course wasn't sure.

In the past I've had the AA RTW desk put a trip on hold, then contacted the AA agent in the country of origin to issue the ticket. Is that still the best way to go? (Assuming the online tool would actually issue a ticket for me, with my IP address being in the U.S.)

A couple years ago I used a TA in Seoul to book and issue a DONE3, and ran into a Catch-22 where the AA RTW desk couldn't see all the sectors

Which airline issued the ticket stock? When this sort of thing happens, it is normally because of different GDS's not talking to each other. eg, last year I had a DONE3 issued by AA (001- ticket stock). If I looked at the booking through the BA or QF sites, I could only see the sectors showing up in Amadeus (those sectors operated/marketed by QF/BA and any other sector connecting to flights). Any sectors operated by AA or JL, who don't use Amadeus, and didn't connect to one of the QF or BA flights didn't appear.

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I called the AA RTW desk today and asked, and the agent there thought that the online tool made all sectors visible to AA, but of course wasn't sure.

If AA issues the ticket (either via the RTW desk, an airport ticket counter, travel agent or when the online tool sends the booking to AA), they should be able to see all the sectors. But you may still have the Amadeus/Axess/Sabre communications problems.

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In the past I've had the AA RTW desk put a trip on hold, then contacted the AA agent in the country of origin to issue the ticket. Is that still the best way to go? (Assuming the online tool would actually issue a ticket for me, with my IP address being in the U.S.)

I would use the tool and go through the RTW desk/travel agent if the tool fails. The tool doesn't read IP addresses to use as a basis of "country of sale".

I am fairly sure that if your first flight is on CX then the online tool will send the booking to be ticketed by CX. This may not be ideal as your "home" airline seems to be AA.
Also the online tool has an ongoing problem whereby after you complete the booking and input your credit card info, you get the infamous 15012 error and have to start again. It's been happening for more than two years and had not been fixed as of late last year; don't know if it has been fixed this year?

In any case, I would definitely use the online tool to build and validate the booking, then call the ever-helpful AA RTW desk to book it and get the record locator. Then ticket it through the AA GSA in South Africa which I believe is still Mindpearl in Cape Town; they are familiar with the procedure.

I agree with the above comment by NDFan, if you have any doubts I'd just call them to book it and confirm. If you have an agent booking it then they can obviously see all the sectors so in the future you shouldn't run into any problems.

Might cost you a slight phone booking fee but considering this is a RTW ticket I'd say that cost is worth it for your piece of mind.

In any case, I would definitely use the online tool to build and validate the booking, then call the ever-helpful AA RTW desk to book it and get the record locator. Then ticket it through the AA GSA in South Africa which I believe is still Mindpearl in Cape Town; they are familiar with the procedure.

Thanks very much.

(If I recall correctly, I used Mindpearl a couple years ago to issue an AA RTW-created ex-JNb itinerary, and was easily done by email and fax.)